Traditionally, product made from a twin-sheet thermoforming process, with respect to the interior of a vehicle, has been used in applications such as rear parcel shelves, door panels, pillar trim, and load-floors. Such a process has not been used for the manufacture of vehicle headliners.
Currently, most vehicle headliners include extra Head Impact Countermeasures (HIC), such as PU foam blocks, attached in strategic positions on the back of a headliner substrate. These HIC parts are expensive and necessitate a secondary operation to affix these parts. These parts are usually made from materials such as Polyurethane, Expanded Polypropylene, Polypropylene, Polyethylene, Polystyrene, and others.
What is needed is for a twin-sheet thermoform process for the manufacture of vehicle headliners. Also needed is for the process to obviate the need for HIC parts by molding the proper geometry into the headliner substrate itself. Moreover, it is desired that the process introduces fabric into the vehicle headliner, thereby obviating the need for adhesively adhering the fabric to the headliner. Further needed is for the headliner to have beneficial acoustic properties.